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Science-Compatible
Faith
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Are We Worthy of God's Creation? From Reflections on the Worthiness of Human Creation by K. T. Chang The Christian faith demands a
believer to accept without question a number of
claims which have no relation to proper behavior
(isn’t that the purpose of any religious teaching?),
these are: the virgin birth, the resurrection, and
the ascension. In this age of cloned mammals and GPS
locater covering every foot of space in “heaven”
(and finding nothing), I think we need to redefine
Christian faith as a belief in the infallibility of
creational design. By this I mean to recognize God
as the most competent Master of Engineering Designer
(beyond, and way beyond, the engineering
sophistication achieved by mankind). At the same
time, God is an artist. This is evident in the
beauty of the plants, flowers, bird plumage, and
colorful sea life (and far more significantly, the
aptitude for art, such as music and painting, by his
crown creation, the human beings). Again, I have to
repeat that a humanlike God is only for the
convenience of an imagined dialogue, it is entirely
fictional – the Creator can only be defined by his
guidance of the energy pathway, and we must not
assume for him a physical presence. This new faith will no longer
contest each bioscience discovery as heresy, but, on
the contrary, seek to strengthen the belief in the
supernatural power of the designer with each
revelation. Stated in another way, this faith
negates the Christian concept of father and son, as
in a family, but proposes a truer relationship – a
great designer and his creations. Thus, God does not
need to be worshipped, or feared. He has
accomplished a grandest of miracles, creating a mind
in his likeness from the waste heat of a star. For
our part, we do have an assignment of duty: to
understand the limits of this gift of life and to
use this gift in a manner worthy of God’s creation.
©2008 K. T. Chang. All rights reserved.
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